Seaton Delaval is a village in Northumberland, England, with a population of 4,371 in the UK census of 2001. (Boundaries of census places in the area have since changed.) It is the largest of the five villages in Seaton Valley (a modern civil parish formed in 2009) and is the site of Seaton Delaval Hall, the masterpiece completed by Sir John Vanbrugh in 1727.

'Seaton' simply means 'sea town', referring to the village's nearness to the North Sea. The land was held by the Delaval family, who took their name from Laval in Maine in France. Their descendants are still major landholders in the area today.

From 1974 the village was part of the Borough of Blyth Valley, but, as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, responsibility was transferred to Northumberland County Council. The village is in the NE25 post code area and the postal town is Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear.

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Seaton Delaval was a township in the ancient parish of Earsdon (near North Shields) and became a separate civil parish in 1866. From 1894 until 1912 it was part of Tynemouth Rural District. In 1912 the Seaton Valley Urban District was formed with Seaton Delaval being the principal settlement. The area of the urban district included the whole of the former township and civil parish of Hartley and a sizeable portion of the civil parish of Horton. In 1935 the urban district was abolished and the area was absorbed into the urban district of Blyth.

The modern Seaton Valley contains, as well as Seaton Delaval, the settlements of Holywell, Seghill, New Hartley, Seaton Sluice and Old Hartley.

A nineteenth century description

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Seaton Delaval from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"SEATON-DELAVAL, a village and a township-chapelry in Earsdon parish, Northumberland. The village stands adjacent to the Blyth and Tyne railway, 2 miles W of the coast at Seaton-Sluice, and 3¼ S S W of Blyth; and has a station on the railway, and a post-office under Dudley, Northumberland. The chapelry, together with Hartley township, comprises 4,219 acres. Population of [Seaton Delaval] alone, in 1851: 2,726; in 1861: 2,876. Houses: 587. The manor belonged anciently to Tynemouth priory; passed, in 1121, to the Delavals; devolved, on extinction of their male line about the end of last century, to Sir Jacob Astley; and belongs now to Lord Hastings. [Seaton Delaval] House was built, after designs by Vanbrugh, for Admiral Delaval; resembles Blenheim Palace, but surpasses it in simplicity and beauty; has a centre, with lofty Doric portico and two vast wings; was destroyed by fire in Jan. 1822; lay in desolation thence till 1861; and was then begun to be restored. An ancient castle of the Delavals stood to the S W; but is now represented by only the chapel, a very fine specimen of early Norman. A mausoleum, built in 1775 by Lord Delaval, stands in the park; and is a Doric temple, with a cupola.

"Coal-mining and the manufacture of chemicals are carried on. The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of Durham. Value: £60. Patron: Lord Hastings. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, a Presbyterian school, and a colliery school."

Research Tips

Northumberland Archives previously known as Northumberland Collections Service and Northumberland County Record Office. Now based within Woodhorn Museum in Ashington and providing free access to numerous records for local and family historians alike.

Northumberland and Durham FHS covers both Northumberland and County Durham. The Family History Society have a research centre in Percy House in central Newcastle upon Tyne (full address on website), open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4 pm. Browse the website to see what else the society can provide.